Most teachers not striking according to CEO

The Director of the Catholic Education Office in Melbourne Stephen Elder has thanked the "vast majority" of principals, teachers and staff for not attending a stop work meeting today.

It was expected that thousands of students would be disrupted due to today's strike. Church authorities had warned teachers not to take part in the industrial action.

However, Mr Elder said he acknowledges the
leadership, professionalism and commitment of all the principals, teachers and staff in Catholic schools.

"Our figures show that only one in five of our teachers have decided to stop work and 49 Catholic schools out of 487 statewide will be closed," Mr Elder said.

"I recognise that the quality of the Catholic education system is very much dependent on the quality of our teachers and their ability to implement a contemporary curriculum in an increasingly complex environment.

"To maintain and attract the highest quality professionals we need to remunerate them accordingly," he said.

Mr Elder did express disappointment over some teachers decision to take industrial action.

"Negotiations with the Victorian Independent Education Union (VIEU) have been progressing in good faith and Catholic employers are committed to providing our teachers with a quality pay outcome," he said.

"An agreement between the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Ltd (CECV) and the VIEU cannot be reached until wage negotiations have been finalised between the State Government and the Australian Education Union (AEU)."